31 August 2016

It's the "ultimate" because this trip through music, space, and time
keeps growing. More than 2,700 music tracks organized chronologically,
spanning more than a century, plus voice clips from space missions and
other historical events. More than 200 hours of musical exploration...
and counting.

30 August 2016

It's the "ultimate" because this trip through music, space, and time
keeps growing. More than 2,700 music tracks organized chronologically,
spanning more than a century, plus voice clips from space missions and
other historical events. More than 200 hours of musical exploration...
and counting.

29 August 2016

It's the "ultimate" because this trip through music, space, and time
keeps growing. More than 2,700 music tracks organized chronologically,
spanning more than a century, plus voice clips from space missions and
other historical events. More than 200 hours of musical exploration...
and counting.

28 August 2016

It's the "ultimate" because this trip through music, space, and time
keeps growing. More than 2,700 music tracks organized chronologically,
spanning more than a century, plus voice clips from space missions and
other historical events. More than 200 hours of musical exploration...
and counting.

22 August 2016

It's the "ultimate" because this trip through music, space, and time
keeps growing. More than 2,700 music tracks organized chronologically,
spanning more than a century, plus voice clips from space missions and
other historical events. More than 200 hours of musical exploration...
and counting.

Selection

Title

Performer

ReleaseYear

1

Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith - Anakin's Dream

John Williams

2005

2

Звездная колыбельная
Stellar Lullaby

Элизиум
Elizium

2005

3

Solaris Stomp

Space Cossacks

2005

4

Columbia

Here Are the Facts You Requested

2005

5

Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith - Anakin's Dark Deeds

John Williams

2005

6

Mars

Hogleg

2005

7

STS-114 - Rendezvous Pitch Maneuver

Mission Audio

2005

8

STS-114 - TPS Tile Repair EVA

Mission Audio

2005

9

Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith - The Birth of the Twins and Padme's Destiny

Part 1: Premises
Predicting the course of a political campaign, like predicting the course of a peacetime geopolitical game or of a shooting war, is difficult. There are a huge number of variables, some of them not well characterized. Always important, however, are the minds of the individuals in the lead roles. I am inclined to give credence to what several sources are writing about Donald Trump's psyche, his reasons for getting into the presidential race, for conducting it as he has, and for staying the course even as it becomes increasingly evident that his style of campaigning will result in a catastrophic loss for the Republican Party. Starting from a set of premises, I will make a prediction regarding Mr. Trump's future moves in the campaign.

Premise 1: Trump announced his candidacy as a ploy to extract a better deal from NBC-TV for renewing his reality show, and failing that, to make his program more marketable to other networks.

Somewhat plausible; however, he should have realized that branding illegal Mexican immigrants as rapists would burn his bridge back to NBC. Far from strengthening his negotiating position, NBC severed all business relationship with him, and none of the other networks will touch his brand, which has become as marketable as toxic waste. At this point, his only path back to television would be to own his own cable channel, which he would be forced to operate largely out of his own pocket because he would not be able to sell much advertising time. Oops!

Premise 2: Trump never expected to become the Republican Party's nominee.

Absolutely plausible! Who did expect it? Whether by conscious design or otherwise, he went through the book and broke each and every law of political campaigning. Who would do that who did not expect to lose? On the other hand, being such a showman, he probably figured he could finish in the middle of the pack without breaking a sweat, it would be fun to play to live audiences for a few months, at the end of which he could find some other way to gratify his vanity. Just beating up Jeb Bush and driving him out of the race would have been enough to declare victory. Then the unexpected happened: he tapped into a niche market of pissed-off, poorly-educated, white men of precarious economic prospects and rapidly dominated that market. It wasn't because he is any sort of genius, it was just dumb luck, a perfect storm of idiocracy which swept him to the Republican nomination. Oops!

Premise 3: Trump never wanted, nor now wants, to be president.

Who can doubt that Trump would be the most miserable president in American history? I don't mean to say that he would do an absolutely miserable job as president; that goes without saying. I mean to say that he would be absolutely miserable in the job of president. That's just not who he is. Sitting in the Oval Office, taking phone calls, sitting in cabinet meetings, listening to advisors drone on and on and on about policies and regulatory issues and budgets and legislation, It's done off-camera and it's tedious as hell. Fuggedaboutit! But now he's a few weeks away from the general election, and it's obvious that what got him to Cleveland won't get him to the White House. It's starting to be not so fun to be Donald Trump. He can't grow his brand out of his captured niche market of stupid white guys, so he's going to lose big time. That's no fun. The Republican professional political class is on his case to pivot to presenting a presidential image, but that's not who he is. He doesn't want to drone on and on and on about policies and regulatory issues and budgets and legislation, Even if it's done on-camera, it's tedious as hell. That's no fun. So, Trump can't win by playing himself, and he can't have any fun by playing someone he's not. Oops!

Part 2: Prediction

So what is the third option? What is Trump's exit strategy?

Since he's not going to get to gush and blush teary-eyed at the adoring crowd as the pageant's crown is placed on his head, he must have in mind some other way to declare victory. And, most of all, it must be fun. Since he can't beat Hillary Clinton, and he's beaten all of his many opponents for the nomination, who else is around that he can beat?

The Republican Party itself. It's easy pickings. It's already sprawled on the mat. All he needs to do is a big fat drop on it. Oooh! I'll bet that hurt!

But until that final slam, Trump must maintain the pretence of wanting to win. Hell yeah, like pro wrestling, the election is fixed, but he's the fixer. He'll mumble through a policy speech, then he'll go back to saying something outrageous for the cameras. He'll shakeup his campaign staff, like he gives a damn what they say or do. That'll create some buzz, then he'll go back to saying something outrageous for the cameras. The more provocative the better, as addicted onlookers need to increase their habit to maintain the same high. Alternating his public personae, he will torment the Republican leadership through a dance of the seven veils as they cling agonizingly to the desperate delusion that he is almost about to reform himself into a serious candidate. The hiring of Stephen Bannon signals a further step away from sanity, but Trump's next move could very well signal a step toward traditional campaigning. The object of Trump's game is simply to keep signaling, to keep the attention on him. Nothing else matters.

Right up until the first debate with Clinton. One would almost make the mistake of calling that the Moment of Truth were it not that there is no truth in Trump, but it will be the Reckoning. It will be the last stop on the Trump reality road show, because it will be an environment he can't control, a show he can't dominate with bombast and insult. He was able to play his Republican rivals off each other, they were more concerned about savaging each other than taking him down, but he is going to be the only one in Clinton's sights... Second Amendment people, don't go there! As much of a megalomaniac as Trump is, he has to know that Hillary will have him not only for dinner, but she will dine off his carcass from one debate to the next straight through to Election Day. A good hunter doesn't waste meat. That first debate is when it stops being fun and he is humiliated as the boorish ignoramus he is.

So this is my best guess as to how the Trump's series finale will play out. At the beginning of the first debate, the candidates will make their opening statements, as is traditional. It doesn't really matter who goes first; that will have been determined beforehand by a coin toss. If Clinton goes first, whatever she says is... whatever. It won't be remembered by anyone. Trump's opening statement will be the big reveal. It will be the last moment he can absolutely dominate. He will announce his withdrawal from the presidential race, and exit stage right. The limousine waiting outside the venue will whisk him away into the night as all hell breaks loose in the auditorium, in the reporting booth, in the country, but most of all, in the Republican Party.

October Surprise is going to come about a week early this year. Six weeks before the November election, the ballots will already have been printed and mailed to absentee voters. Trump's name will be on them as the Republican candidate for president of the United States of America, except that the party will no longer have a candidate. Trump's sudden exit will create a political vacuum which the party will scramble to fill but will be unable to at that late date, resulting in an implosion. No pitcher coming off the Republican bench will be able to save the game. It will be a laugher, a game far beyond reach. And what happens toward the end of a laugher? The stadium is mostly empty. Most of the crowd has gone to the exits to get in their cars ahead of everyone else. This presidential election will have the lowest turnout in the history of the republic.

Why would Trump do this? Because when all else is said and done, Donald Trump is an entertainer. What better than to make a grand exit which leaves even his legions of detractors wanting more, especially the broadcast media, which will cut from one talking head to the next, each one more open-mouthed and goggle-eyed than the last, for the remaining 80 minutes of the scheduled presidential debate, and for the remaining 40 days of the presidential campaign. What better way flip the finger to the Republican Party he has come to despise, from its swelling number of principled defectors to his dwindling number of amoral apologists.

Yes, he is that vindictive. Yes, he is that vainglorious. The one ambition remaining open to Trump is to play the part of the greatest political villain in American history. It's at least the next best thing to playing the hero, and arguably even better. After all, everyone remembers Richard III; no one remembers the Earl of Richmond. Also, it has been said that every person is the hero of his own story, and certainly Trump has show this to be at least as true of himself as of anyone, but who else but Trump could be both the hero and the villain in his own mind, and relish every act, scene and line?

My prediction assumes that there is some method in Trump's madness, an assumption which may be incorrect, as he may have no method at all. It may also be that I don't believe a word of what I have written here, that I am just another political entertainer. You might very well think that....

21 August 2016

It's the "ultimate" because this trip through music, space, and time
keeps growing. More than 2,700 music tracks organized chronologically,
spanning more than a century, plus voice clips from space missions and
other historical events. More than 200 hours of musical exploration...
and counting.

20 August 2016

It's the "ultimate" because this trip through music, space, and time
keeps growing. More than 2,700 music tracks organized chronologically,
spanning more than a century, plus voice clips from space missions and
other historical events. More than 200 hours of musical exploration...
and counting.

19 August 2016

It's the "ultimate" because this trip through music, space, and time
keeps growing. More than 2,700 music tracks organized chronologically,
spanning more than a century, plus voice clips from space missions and
other historical events. More than 200 hours of musical exploration...
and counting.

18 August 2016

It's the "ultimate" because this trip through music, space, and time
keeps growing. More than 2,700 music tracks organized chronologically,
spanning more than a century, plus voice clips from space missions and
other historical events. More than 200 hours of musical exploration...
and counting.

It's the "ultimate" because this trip through music, space, and time
keeps growing. More than 2,700 music tracks organized chronologically,
spanning more than a century, plus voice clips from space missions and
other historical events. More than 200 hours of musical exploration...
and counting.

16 August 2016

It's the "ultimate" because this trip through music, space, and time
keeps growing. More than 2,700 music tracks organized chronologically,
spanning more than a century, plus voice clips from space missions and
other historical events. More than 200 hours of musical exploration...
and counting.

14 August 2016

It's the "ultimate" because this trip through music, space, and time
keeps growing. More than 2,700 music tracks organized chronologically,
spanning more than a century, plus voice clips from space missions and
other historical events. More than 200 hours of musical exploration...
and counting.

13 August 2016

It's the "ultimate" because this trip through music, space, and time
keeps growing. More than 2,700 music tracks organized chronologically,
spanning more than a century, plus voice clips from space missions and
other historical events. More than 200 hours of musical exploration...
and counting.

When you consider any one thing in isolation that Donald Trump says, you're left scratching your head, "No one is going to believe that, right?" But the crowds at his rallies cheer every word. The more outrageous the remark, the louder the response. Are they gullible? Are they crazy? Are they just enjoying a show, suspending disbelief like an audience watching the latest superhero blockbuster? Is it possible that they have watched so much so-called "reality television," which is so obviously scripted, that they no longer sense where reality ends and fantasy begins? To borrow a couple of Trump's stock phrases, I have to be honest, I don't know.

More to the point, when you consider everything in its totality that Donald Trump has said, you're left scratching your head, "He doesn't really believe that, does he?" I'm pretty sure that if you asked him, he would answer, "Of course I do. I really mean it. I'm a truth teller." And when he walks back a particular statement a day or two later, he declares with equal sincerity, "It was a joke. Don't you get sarcasm?"

What I get is this: Trump actually does believe every word he says, not only at the moment he says it, but even the next day when he emphatically repudiates it. He actually believes "A" and "not A" simultaneously, simply because he made both statements and he is never wrong. In Trump's conception of reality, he has the awesome, cosmic power to reshape the universe to his whim from moment to moment, a power which religious fundamentalists assign to a divine being, although they usually expect it to be exercised with far less caprice.

Since Trump believes two contradictory statements simultaneously, the rest of us cannot take either statement at face value. The safest course is not to trust one damned thing he says. For instance, when Trump says he will have American civilians tried by military tribunals at Guantanamo, neither applaud nor tremble, for it has a much validity as if he had said that he has no such intention. What he says comes not from any principles, but from his need to draw raucous reactions from his rapt followers. He will tell them whatever he imagines they want to hear.

The only constant in Trump's world is his pathological compulsion to
attract attention. He revels in being an entertainer, and an entertainer
doesn't need to have any political convictions or to offer any
realistic solutions. His only real message is, "Dig me!"

He's merely the shock jock of the campaign trail, and I'm beyond being shocked by his vanity insanity. If Trump concocts a new "birther" theory and accuses Barack Obama of having giving birth to Osama bin Laden and having had a sex change operation afterward (why else would he pushing so hard for transgender restrooms?), no one should be shocked at this point. And that's the real problem with the Trump Show. He's pegged the shockometer and people are beginning to switch to another program.

11 August 2016

I have always cringed when a certain California Democratic Party bigwig, whom I will refrain from exposing in respect for our longtime acquaintance, refers to Republicans as "Repugs," primarily because it serves no useful purpose for Democrats to stoop to name-calling any more than it serves Republicans; rather, it urges a lot of us to react like Shakespeare's Mercutio: "A plague o' both your houses!" Secondly, I have had rewarding conversations with some prominent Republicans such as former California Secretary of State Bill Jones and former US Secretary of Labor Bill Brock, to name a couple. That being said, the linked MSNBC story sums up a truly repugnant strain of hateful, mentally retarded, faux conservatism which makes conservative philosophers vomit:

I once had the honor of being interviewed on radio by progressive talk show host Peter B. Collins and by Heritage Foundation co-founder Paul Weyrich... on the same day, about the same issue, and both conversations were very pleasant. Respectful, principled bipartisanship is how things got done in American politics back in the days when things actually got done. If you get off on Donald Trump's trash-talking, you had better be prepared for a daily diet of it for four years straight while nothing constructive gets accomplished and America descends further into a hell of its own making. What we need is a president who can make friends and play well with others.

If you want trash-talking, I'll give it to you straight. Don't question Barack Obama's patriotism, faith, birth, or parentage. Don't call Hillary Clinton a bitch who should be locked up, executed, or assassinated. Don't even blame Trump for the gutter language into which American political discourse has degenerated. Blame yourselves. Most of you make the concept of government by the people a sick joke. Most of you don't have the first idea of how to govern yourselves as individuals much less as a nation. American political life has come to resemble Lord of the Flies, vicious tribes driven by childlike ignorance of political principles, lost on an island without adult supervision. Remember how our grandparents conducted themselves? I don't recall any of mine ever verbally abusing anyone. It just wasn't done. One thing you could do to really help make America great again is to just be fucking polite. If not, as Nixon would have said, you can all go to hell. You are already well on your way anyhow.

It's the "ultimate" because this trip through music, space, and time
keeps growing. More than 2,700 music tracks organized chronologically,
spanning more than a century, plus voice clips from space missions and
other historical events. More than 200 hours of musical exploration...
and counting.

10 August 2016

It's the "ultimate" because this trip through music, space, and time
keeps growing. More than 2,700 music tracks organized chronologically,
spanning more than a century, plus voice clips from space missions and
other historical events. More than 200 hours of musical exploration...
and counting.

In political science #‎Trump‬ is what we call an outlier, well outside the bounds of past data. Less scientifically, he's an out and out liar.

An acquaintance of many years who tends to vote Republican responded, "If your against lying, then who are you voting for based on that? It can't be Hillary. If it is you just negated your own argument."

Not at all. Everyone lies sometime. That doesn't mean that we should condone lying, nor does it mean the we should equally condemn all liars, for then who would be left to utter even the smallest truth? As Hamlet quipped, "Use every man after his desert,
and who should 'scape whipping?" Thus it is incumbent upon each of us to judge who lies the least. In this presidential election, I am more than satisfied as to the identity of that candidate, but admittedly the bar is not set very high, more is the pity.

"Sounds to me like a Ph.D. stating we should vote for the lesser of two evils."

If we weren't friends, your initial remark could easily be taken as ad hominem. I'm 9 months away from earning my doctorate in juridical science, insh'allah.

However, let's examine your implied premise that we should not vote for the lesser of two evils, and let us further stipulate, as I know from personal experience, that you are a good man. If you vote for the greater evil, then you are complicit in its triumph, and as a good man you will not do that. If you do not vote at all, then you are also complicit in the triumph of evil, for as Edmund Burke observed, "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." As a good man, you should do something. However, voting for the lesser of two evils is not your only option. There will be several other candidates for president on the ballot in November. So, let's posit a choice between supporting the lesser of the two major party evils versus the minor party candidates. Whether evil or good, since the latter have no chance of winning, voting for one of them has very nearly the same utility as doing nothing if your objective is to deny evil its triumph. It's a feel-good, thrown away vote. So, according to rational choice theory analysis, you should vote for the lesser of two evils.

"At its most basic level, behavior is rational if it is goal-oriented, reflective (evaluative), and consistent (across time and different choice situations). This contrasts with behavior that is random, impulsive, conditioned, or adopted by (unevaluative) imitation." --Wikipedia, "Rational choice theory"

"Impulsive, conditioned, or adopted" describes the voting of most of the electorate. Were this not so, possibly our available choices would be between the greater of two goods, although Lord Acton might argue otherwise: "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men." Hillary Clinton has political power, but operating within a political system of checks and balances, she has never wielded absolute power. In contrast, as either the sole owner or majority owner of his business enterprises, Donald Trump has enjoyed nothing but absolute power throughout his life. He diverts attention from his own absolute corruption by ranting about "crooked Hillary."

My great-grandmother used to state emphatically that she never read any of the dozen or so San Francisco newspapers which published in her day because they were full of lies and politics. I do not know whether she intended an ironic redundancy or that the latter was worse than the former.

09 August 2016

It's the "ultimate" because this trip through music, space, and time
keeps growing. More than 2,700 music tracks organized chronologically,
spanning more than a century, plus voice clips from space missions and
other historical events. More than 200 hours of musical exploration...
and counting.

It's the "ultimate" because this trip through music, space, and time
keeps growing. More than 2,700 music tracks organized chronologically,
spanning more than a century, plus voice clips from space missions and
other historical events. More than 200 hours of musical exploration...
and counting.

Selection

Title

Performer

ReleaseYear

1

Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones - Main Title and Ambush on Coruscant

John Williams

2002

2

Surfing Swamp Monster From the Planet Zon

Vampire Beach Babes

2002

3

Satellite

Video Kids

2002

4

Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones - Love Theme From Attack of the Clones

06 August 2016

It's the "ultimate" because this trip through music, space, and time
keeps growing. More than 2,700 music tracks organized chronologically,
spanning more than a century, plus voice clips from space missions and
other historical events. More than 200 hours of musical exploration...
and counting.

04 August 2016

It's the "ultimate" because this trip through music, space, and time
keeps growing. More than 2,700 music tracks organized chronologically,
spanning more than a century, plus voice clips from space missions and
other historical events. More than 200 hours of musical exploration...
and counting.

03 August 2016

It's the "ultimate" because this trip through music, space, and time
keeps growing. More than 2,700 music tracks organized chronologically,
spanning more than a century, plus voice clips from space missions and
other historical events. More than 200 hours of musical exploration...
and counting.

02 August 2016

It's the "ultimate" because this trip through music, space, and time
keeps growing. More than 2,700 music tracks organized chronologically,
spanning more than a century, plus voice clips from space missions and
other historical events. More than 200 hours of musical exploration...
and counting.

About Me

Thomas Gangale holds a bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Southern California and a master's degree in international relations from San Francisco State University. He was both an airman and an officer in the US Air Force, serving as an air traffic controller and an F-4 weapon systems officer. Also while on active duty, he served on the technical management teams of several satellite projects of the highest national priority involving national technical means of verification of strategic arms control agreements, as well as a Strategic Defense Initiative satellite program and two Space Shuttle payloads (STS-4 and STS-39). He has published numerous articles in aerospace and social science journals, has presented papers at several aerospace symposia, has written opinion editorials in major metropolitan newspapers, and has appeared as a guest on radio talk shows. He is a leading authority on timekeeping systems for other planets, and is the inventor of a class of orbits that will be essential to communication between Earth and crews in the vicinity of Mars. He is the author of the American Plan for reforming the presidential nomination process.